具志干潟でミサゴの狩り(動画あり)
今冬初の南風(多分)が吹いたので具志干潟へミサゴの魚捕りを見てきました。数は少なかったですが、4羽ほどのミサゴが具志干潟上空に現れました。2羽は瀬長島側で狩りをしていましたが、ほかの2羽は目の前で(といっても150mから200メートルは離れていますが)水中に飛び込み、大きな魚を捕まえていました。
魚を捕まえるとちょうど100メートル離れた岩の上で悠々と食いだしました。1羽が食っていると2羽目のミサゴもやってきて横に並んで喧嘩もすることなく食っていた。
The rocks that serve as the Ospreys' favourite dining table.
Just before spotting prey and tipping into a dive.
A few metres to the water's surface.
Thrusting its feet forward, talons spread wide — two in front and two behind — it plunges into the water.
The body submerged about a metre underwater.
After a few wingbeats the Osprey lifted clear of the water. It had hold of a large Black Porgy.
Ospreys always seem to catch fish that look delicious.
This Osprey caught a Giant Trevally.
The Osprey that caught the Giant Trevally ate beside the one that caught the Southern Black Bream.
Without any particular conflict, the two Ospreys used the same rocky area.
As the tide came in and the rocks began to flood, a Pacific Reef Heron appeared between the two Ospreys. Was it after the small fish going for the Ospreys' scraps?
With the tide nearly full and the rocks submerged, it flew off somewhere carrying the half-eaten Giant Trevally.
The Osprey that had been eating the Southern Black Bream flew off too.
